Americans enjoy some chores far more than others. Men and women differ somewhat in the types of household tasks they enjoy, and differ far more in the tasks they are responsible for doing. Recent YouGov polling finds that among American adults who live with others, women are far more likely than men to say they are the person with primary responsibility for most of the common chores included in the survey. Women living in households with other people are also more likely than men to say they are dissatisfied with the division of chores within their household and to say they take on more than their fair share of household labor.

Feelings on household chores

The survey asked Americans how they feel about doing 16 household tasks. Majorities say they love or like preparing meals (59%) and grocery shopping (57%) and nearly half say they enjoy tidying (47%). Organizing closets and drawers (40%), yardwork (39%), making the bed (38%), wiping down counters and tables (37%), vacuuming (34%), doing laundry (34%), and cleaning the kitchen (30%) are each enjoyed by between 30% and 40% of Americans. Fewer enjoy washing dishes (27%), taking out the trash (24%), sweeping or mopping (24%), car maintenance (23%), dusting (18%), or cleaning bathrooms (16%). About half (52%) of Americans say they hate or dislike cleaning bathrooms, more than for any other chore asked about.

Men are more likely than women to say they enjoy doing car maintenance (21 percentage points more likely to say they love or like doing it), taking out the trash (+16), and doing yardwork (+13). Women are more likely than men to enjoy cleaning the kitchen (+12), organizing closets and drawers (+12), tidying (+9), making the bed (+8), wiping down counters and tables (+8), and doing laundry (+6). Similar shares of men and women enjoy preparing meals, grocery shopping, vacuuming, washing dishes, sweeping or mopping, dusting, and cleaning bathrooms.

Responsibility for household chores

Among people who live in a household with others, women are more likely than men to say they are the ones entirely or mostly responsible for doing 13 of the 16 tasks asked about in the survey. Women are at least 20 points more likely than men to say they are the person primarily responsible for tidying, dusting, organizing closets and drawers, wiping down counters and tables, cleaning the kitchen, sweeping or mopping, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, preparing meals, washing dishes, and vacuuming. There are three chores that men are more likely than women to say they are primarily responsible for: taking out the trash, car maintenance, and yardwork.

For each of the 16 tasks asked about, the gender gap is as large or larger among parents of children under the age of 18 who don't live alone.

Among Americans living in a household with other people, men are on average more likely than women to say that tasks are shared about equally between themselves and other people in the household. The largest gaps are for tidying, organizing closets and drawers, dusting, wiping down counters and tables, sweeping or mopping, and cleaning the kitchen: For each of these tasks, men are at least 10 points more likely than women to say they are shared equally.

Twice as many Americans who live with others say they do much or a little more than their fair share of household tasks as say they do less than their fair share (35% vs. 18%); 43% say they do about their fair share.

Women who live with others are almost twice as likely as men to say they do more than their fair share of household tasks (45% vs. 25%). They are less likely than men who live with others to say they do about their fair share (36% vs. 51%) or less than their fair share (15% vs. 21%).

Among parents of children under 18 who don't live alone, the gender gap in perceived share of household tasks done is even greater: 58% of women and 23% of men say they do more than their fair share. 6% of women and 15% of men say they do less than their share.

59% of Americans who live with other people say they are very or somewhat satisfied with the current division of tasks in their household; 15% are dissatisfied. Men are more likely than women to be satisfied with the division (65% vs. 53%) and less likely to be dissatisfied (10% vs. 19%).

The gender gaps are even bigger among men and women who are parents of children under 18 and who don't live alone. Within this group, men are more likely than women to be satisfied with the division of household labor (75% vs. 58%) and less likely to be dissatisfied (8% vs. 21%).

— Carl Bialik contributed to this article

See the results for this YouGov poll

Methodology: The poll was conducted online among 2,230 adult citizens on two separate 2025 surveys from October 17 - 22 and October 23 - 27. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 3 percentage points.

Image: Getty (Catherine Falls Commercial)

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